International trade minister Greg Hands visited one of Cambridge’s brightest business stars and pledged to continue supporting the life sciences sector as Britain moves towards Brexit.

Hands visited Horizon Discovery Group’s headquarters at Cambridge Research Park, near Waterbeach, where he learned about the company’s groundbreaking work to design and engineer gene-edited cell lines and was given a tour of the company’s facilities, including its state-of-the-art research laboratories and manufacturing plant.

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“Cambridge is world renowned for its capabilities in a number of sectors, and has the largest UK cluster of scientific research and development employment outside London. Fast-growing and pioneering companies like Horizon typify the vibrancy and strength of the life sciences sector in Cambridge,” said Hands.

“Meeting businesses like Horizon, who are at the cutting edge of global advances, is a pertinent reminder of the international demand for British goods, services and expertise. My department is committed to providing the support businesses need to help them continue to grow and achieve their ambitions.”

Horizon’s potential is well-known in Cambridge and beyond, and indeed the company is the reigning News business of the year. The last 12 months has seen it grow its revenue significantly in several areas, providing more products and services for life sciences companies.

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Dr Darrin Disley, Horizon’s CEO, said: “We were delighted to welcome the minister to Horizon Discovery. We have an established relationship with the Department for International Trade, having previously participated in an oncology trade mission to India which opened up a new network of potential partners, and recently received important introductions to new contacts in the US. We look forward to working closely with the Department as we look towards our exciting year ahead”.

Horizon has also announced it has received a £523,000 grant from Government innovation agency Innovate UK to develop an automated gene-editing platform. It will be working with another British firm, Solentim, to establish new and innovative approaches for the manufacture of high-value, genome-edited, cell lines at a greater throughput and at a significantly reduced cost. This will provide Horizon with the ability to rapidly expand its product offering while making these cells available to the market at a highly competitive price.

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Dr Disley added: “The efficient application of gene editing technologies is as important to our success as is access to them. Our grant-funded collaboration with Solentim has the potential to have a major impact on the rate and cost of cell line development for Horizon, further strengthening our competitive market position, and accelerating the move from customer-performed cell line development to a fully outsourced model, similar to what has occurred in the research antibody market.”